ALOO METHI / POTATO WITH FENUGREEK LEAVES

INGREDIENTS:

1 Small onion chopped
1 Tomato chopped
2 Potato cut into cubes (1 potato if its large)
1 cup Methi / Fenugreek leaves (I used frozen methi leaves)
1-2 Green chillies chopped
1 tsp Red chilly flakes
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Red chilly powder
3/4 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Ginger-garlic paste
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

LET'S COOK:

Heat oil in a pan. Add green chillies, onion, ginger garlic paste and saute until onion turns transparent.
Now add tomato and cook until its soft. Once tomato gets cooked add all the masalas and saute for 1 min.
At this time if you feel its too dry add 2-3 tbsp water. Add potato, salt to taste and mix well. Cook the potato by covering the pan. When the potato is half way done add the methi leaves and mix well. Cook the methi & potato by covering the pan once more. It may take 3-5 mins for this mixture to cook. The color of the methi leaves will change from green to brownish green once its cooked.

RAW PAPAYA DAL CURRY / KAPPANGA PARIPPU KUTTAN

INGREDIENTS:

2 cup raw papaya cut into cubes

½ cup yellow lentil

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilly powder

4-5 split green chilies

1 -1 ½ tsp tamarind paste

1 cup grated coconut

½ tsp coriander powder

1-2 pearl onion

Few curry leaves

1 tbsp musturd

3-4 dried red chilies

Salt to taste

oil

LET'S COOK:

Cook raw papaya, yellow lentil, turmeric powder, red chilly powder and salt with enough water. If you are cooking the papaya in pressure cooker, one whistle is enough. Grind together coconut, coriander powder and pearl onion into a fine paste. Before adding the coconut paste, add tamarind paste and cook for 1-2 mins. Then add the coconut paste and switch off the gas when it just starts to boil. Now the last part, heat oil and add mustard. When the mustard splutters add dried red chilies and fresh curry leaves. Add this to the curry and serve hot with rice.

KADALA/BLACK CHANA CURRY - KERALA STYLE

This yummy kadala curry/black chana/chickpea curry is an all time favorite in my family & if it is served with puttu/appam/iddiyappam then you can be sure that everyone will lick the plate clean!! My sis gets very envious whenever I tell her, “Hey, I made kadala curry with mummy’s recipe”. Now, let me share some healthy notes on chickpea. Chickpeas are a helpful source of zinc, folate and protein. According to the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics chickpea seeds contain on average:

• 23% protein
• 64% total carbohydrates (47% starch, 6% soluble sugar)
• 5% fat
• 6% crude fiber
• 3% ash

There is also a high reported mineral content:

• phosphorus (340 mg/100 g)
• calcium
• magnesium (140 mg/100g)
• iron (7 mg/100 g)
• zinc (3 mg/100 g)

Recent studies by government agencies have also shown that they can assist in lowering of cholesterol in the bloodstream.

INGREDIENTS :

½ kg black chena/kadala

1 tbsp parboiled rice

5 pearl onion

1 cup grated coconut

½ tsp turmeric powder

 1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tbsp coriander powder
½ tbsp garam masala powder
1½ tbsp meat masala powder

1 tomato chopped

3-4 green chillies diagonally cut

1 tsp of ginger cut into long pieces

1 medium onion chopped into thin slices

1 tbsp mustard

4 dried red chillies

Curry leaves

Salt

3 tbsp Coconut/canola/refined oil

LET'S COOK : 

1. Soak kadala/black chana in water, overnight.

   
    2. Cook the black chana with salt and enough water.

3. Heat 2 tbsp of oil and add the raw parboiled rice. When it starts to change color add pearl onions and some curry leaves and fry until the pearl onions become transparent. Add grated coconut, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander powder and sauté until the raw smell is gone. At this time add garam masala, meat masala and sauté for 2 min.

4. Grind the masala mix into a fine paste.

   5. In a deep bottom pan add ground masala, 2 cups of water, cooked chana dal and cook until the gravy is thicker.

    

   6. In another pan put the remaining oil, mustard, curry leaves, dry red chillies, green chillies, ginger, onion and sauté until the onion turns light brown in color. At this stage add chopped tomatoes and sauté until it becomes soft.

7. Add the onion-tomato mix and salt to the chana and cook until it starts boiling.

The Spicy chana/kadala curry is ready. This is best eaten with puttu/appam.

AVIAL

This avial made is special because this authentic keralite dish was made by my hubby :D. Like me, he also loves to cook & our recipes for the same dish always differ since we are from different parts of Kerala. Now let me tell you something about avial before going to the recipe. According to Hindu mythology avial was invented by Bhima (one of the Pandavas) during their exile. According to the legend, when Ballav (Bhima's name during this time) assumed his duties as a cook in the kitchen of Virata, he did not know how to cook. One of the first things he did was to chop up many different vegetables, boil them together and topped the dish with grated coconut & that’s how avial was invented.

INGREDIENTS:

Vegetables used (you can use any vegetables that you have handy):

2-3 cups of Carrots, beans, raw bananas, pearl onions, drumsticks, cucumbers & snake gourd chopped into long pieces

Curry leaves

3-4 green chilles

3 tbsp curd (you can also use raw mango or tamarind water instead of curd). If you are using raw mango or tamarind water instead of curd, add them when you are cooking the vegetables in the first step.

1 cup grated Coconut

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Coconut Oil

Salt

LET’S COOK:

1. Cook all vegetables with green chilles, turmeric powder & salt. You can also add some curry leaves too. I added some to get more flavor.

       2. Grind coconut and cumin powder into a fine paste and add to the cooked vegetables and stir for 5 mins.

          3. Add curd & cook well on low heat until all water gets absorbed. If the pan is very hot the curd will spoil.

4. Switch off the gas and add coconut oil and curry leaves.

And by the way that was drawn by me.just an experiment:D